


Peter, Paul and Perry

by arthureverest



Category: Perry Mason (TV 2020)
Genre: M/M, What is Pacing, this came to me in a dream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:08:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26212402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arthureverest/pseuds/arthureverest
Summary: “What? Della said you were so happy together.”“Happy and sad. And angry. Full spectrum of human emotions.”“I think there’s more than three human emotions.”“For you, maybe.”
Relationships: Perry Mason/Pete Strickland
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Peter, Paul and Perry

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't my usual style and I didn't spend much time editing so if it sucks don't let it reflect poorly on me, but it made me laugh so i'm posting it anyway

When Pete said to bring in Officer Drake, Perry didn’t know how to respond. Of course, it was a good idea, but Pete didn’t mean in addition to himself, he meant instead of him. Perry connected that right away, but what he didn’t connect until long after Pete had walked away, medium-length after he had too many angry sips from a bottle, and shortly after he gave himself a nasty bruise from hitting his head against the doorpost (on accident, but it might as well have been on purpose) was that he had some sorts of feelings for Pete that weren’t gonna see the light of day. 

So of course, he brought Paul in. To the firm, or operation, or whatever it was. And their interactions were more stiff than with Pete. The trust wasn’t there yet, or— did Pete ever trust him? He had to. Of course he did. 

So with that sort of general cycle, Perry would always end up thinking of Pete, like a man obsessed. And at one point he made a grave mistake with so much Pete Strickland on the mind. He and Paul were in the milk truck, staking SOMEthing out but what it was wasn’t important. What was important was Perry’s apology after he absent-mindedly rubbed Paul’s arm with all the affection he wanted so badly to give to Pete again. 

“Mr. Mason.” Paul started, looking down at Perry’s hand, “as you’ll recall, I’m a married man.” (And obviously that ‘having a wife’ business meant more to him than it did to Pete)

“Oh, _fuck._ ” Perry retreated his hand like he was touching a hot oven. “Sorry. I don’t know what the fuck came over me.” Perry lied. (He knew all too well what the fuck had come over him. However, the apology was genuine.)

So of course, Pete gets a call the next day from Perry, saying ‘please please let me see you again there’s something I need to tell you and something I need to give you.’ And Pete never took Perry for an easy beggar so he agreed to see him on neutral ground. (Della’s house)

So they met up and Perry didn’t take all but two seconds to hug Pete so hard he could hear his heartbeat. And he brushed his stubbly cheek across Pete’s neck in that way that they’d done before only at their most affectionate. 

“Alright, alright.” Pete said, “What was it that you wanted to give me?” 

So Perry dragged him to the pre-approved quiet bedroom and kissed him like a Hollywood starlet.

Pete stared at him puzzled.

“C’mon, Pete, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten.”

“Hey, hey, I was drunk all those times, and not getting enough at home. And we didn’t do much to begin with. Nothing like _that._ ”

“Would there have been enough times for you to say ‘all those times’ if you really felt nothing?”

“Weren’t that many times. ‘Was being generous. Shut the fuck up, also.”

Perry raised his palms in forfeiture. 

So Pete leaves, and Perry despairs for a bit.

So the next day Perry gets a call from Officer Drake. He’d like to see him again. 

Oh no. 

So Perry shows up fully prepared to get his ass kicked again. And Paul walks up to him and hugs him tight.

“What the fuck. I thought this was a ‘getting my shit kicked in’ appointment.” 

“What, do you want it to be?” Paul arches an eyebrow.

“No.” Perry answers quickly. “No, I don’t want my shit kicked in.”

“Della told me.” Paul said.

“Told you what?” Perry asked, genuinely confused. 

“About you and the guy before me.”

“Wait, how did that keep my shit from getting kicked in? Not that I’m mad.”

“That you’re actually a part of that community and not just… not just taking advantage of power imbalances.”

Perry stared blankly, he had never really thought of an attraction to men as ‘community’ before but maybe he should look into that if it saved his ass today. 

When he finally was able to speak again, Perry admitted that he and Pete may have broken up for good. 

“What? Della said you were so happy together.”

“Happy and sad. And angry. Full spectrum of human emotions.”

“I think there’s more than three human emotions.”

“For you, maybe.”

“Do you think you should go talk to him?”

“I’d like nothing more, but I’m afraid it will make shit worse.”

“You do tend to do that.” Paul grinned. 

“Shut up.”

So Perry stewed on it some more and decided to talk to Pete again. So he calls him up, schedules a time, (on neutral ground, again, of course) and makes his plans. 

Perry has a long speech prepped, like a day in court. As soon as they’re in privacy, he sighs and all but starts his spiel before Pete kisses him. 

“I missed you. You were right. I’m sorry.” He mumbles between kisses. 

And so they stuck together. They found it was actually easier when they weren’t working together, and getting on each other’s nerves quite as much. But they still got on each other’s nerves. Because that’s who they are.

**Author's Note:**

> comments are lovely, follow me on twitter [@gendermaterials](https://twitter.com/gendermaterials)


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